


Vanilla

by LeChatRouge673



Series: Canon Verse Stories and Wanderings [14]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:15:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26684272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeChatRouge673/pseuds/LeChatRouge673
Summary: Prompted by @theearlkindagay on tumblr.
Relationships: Female Cousland/Nathaniel Howe
Series: Canon Verse Stories and Wanderings [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/979848
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	Vanilla

**Author's Note:**

> Prompted by @theearlkindagay on tumblr.

He lived for moments like this.

The quiet, tender moments when it was just the two of them lying in bed together, both slightly breathless and skin still warm as they nestled close to each other under the covers. The night outside was cool with the first whispering promises of autumn, and they had both spent a very long day working around the Keep beginning the harvest preparations and planning for winter. It was the kind of quiet domesticity he had once thought was just a dream: one that he had given up the day he had left for the Marches and left Amaranthine, and Cataline, behind. Now, his life was better than he could have ever hoped for.

When they had finally called it a day his beautiful, impossibly tempting wife had insisted on a bath, and Nathaniel had not even the slightest inclination to argue with her. Of course, now they would have to bathe all over again, but it was well worth it.

“Have I ever told you how amazing you are, Wildflower?”

Cat laughed softly, pressing a kiss against his chest as he gently ran his fingers through the ginger waves of her hair. “Perhaps,” she admitted, “Though I will never, _ever_ grow tired of hearing it.” She breathed a long, soft sigh of contentment. “Nor will I ever grow tired of simply being here with you, Nathaniel. Lying here safe in your arms, knowing you are here and real and mine…”

“Always, Cat,” he promised, tightening his arms around her slightly and resting his head against hers. “Mmm. How do you always smell so wonderful?”

She giggled again, burying her face against his shoulder. “Good soaps, regular baths, and my own vanity,” she explained with just a hint of wryness. “I spend more than I probably ought to importing that vanilla perfume I love so much from Rivain, but it is my favorite scent.”

“I admit I do love it on you,” Nathaniel said, his tone thoughtful, “Even all those years I was away in the Marches, every time I caught a whiff of it from the kitchens my heart broke a bit because I could only every associate it with you. Those long summer days we spent together at Highever, wandering the meadows and the seashore…”

“Those are wonderful memories,” she agreed. “I could never step into a pine forest without thinking of you. Funny how powerful scents can be; how much they can make us remember.”

Nathaniel nodded. “Yes. I was just thinking, though… it is not just your perfume. Love it though I do, there is more to… _you_. You smell like spring. You smell like wildflowers fresh from the earth, and fresh air off the sea, and just… Cataline. You smell like Cataline.”

“Oh, Nate…” she murmured softly, tilting her head up so that she could face him. “That is just…” She shrugged, then propped herself up on her elbow so that she could kiss him properly, her lips expressing her thoughts just as effectively as her words could have. “Have I ever told you just how much I love you?”

He gave a quiet breath of laughter, relaxing back against the pillows and into the warm, perfect embrace of his Wildflower.

“Perhaps. Though I will never, _ever_ grow tired of hearing it.”


End file.
